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Nate glanced at Tess as they took another bend at a smooth fifty. He eased his foot off the gas. There was no rush to get back to the city, and he liked having her in the passenger seat of the Jeep—even if her presence wasn’t exactly relaxing.
The jasmine of her perfume covered the scent of new leather that usually permeated the vehicle, and had his pulse thumping, but the sleepy tone of her voice, her drooping eyelids and the hand curled loosely over her waist—which reminded him why she was so exhausted—kept the effect she had on him on a tight leash, for once.
Down, boy.
‘I told you, Zane collects cars,’ he replied, trying to remember exactly what he had told her. ‘So he’s got a couple spare.’ Or he would have once Nate had given him the money to cover the cost from the dealer. ‘You need a loaner so you might as well use one of his.’
She studied him, curling into the seat, and sending another waft of jasmine towards him. ‘Which still doesn’t explain why he looked so surprised when you suggested it.’
Zane had looked surprised because he’d had no idea what Nate was talking about. But luckily it had only taken a steely nod for him to catch on. Zane and he had spent enough of their childhood arguing their way out of trouble together to be almost psychic when it came to watching each other’s backs. Getting him to offer to lend Tess an as-yet unpurchased car had been a cinch. A lot more of a cinch than getting Tess to accept it. ‘We’re buddies. If it was a problem he would have said so. He didn’t.’
The frown on her forehead smoothed out. ‘Well, it was very generous of him. And it’s got me out of a major fix. Maybe I could organise an event for free for him. As a thank you. Does he do any hospitality events with his detective firm? He must do.’
‘You’ve thanked him enough already,’ he cut in, maybe a little too harshly, as his fingers fisted on the gear shift. ‘It’s not that big a deal.’
Tess gave a throaty giggle. ‘Why, Mr Graystone, if I didn’t know better I’d think you were jealous.’
‘I saw you admiring his butt!’ he remarked, but exasperation was already giving way to amusement. Yes, he’d caught her looking at Zane’s butt, but there’d been none of the dazed wonder he’d feared. If anything Tess had seemed remarkably subdued with his friend, and there hadn’t been a drop of drool in sight. Which was very good news, because she was his, or she soon would be, for a short while at least.
‘Right after you’d had your hands on mine,’ he continued and grinned as he glanced her way and saw her grin back, the secret acknowledgement a new boost to his ego, and his arousal. ‘I’m not jealous. I’m amazed at your stamina.’
‘I wasn’t admiring his butt,’ she said drowsily. ‘I was comparing your assets.’
‘Damn, well that makes me feel so much better.’
‘Don’t worry. Yours weren’t found wanting,’ she replied, the cheeky little chuckle doing weird things to his heart rate. ‘One thing I did notice, though, you two have the exact same colour eyes.’
‘Huh?’
‘Your eyes,’ she repeated. ‘It’s almost as if you were related.’
The offhand comment had his body stiffening and the amusement leaching away. ‘It must have been a trick of the sunlight,’ he said dully. How had she noticed that so easily, when hardly anyone else ever did? Apart from their height and general build, the shade of blue in their irises was the only telltale sign. The one thing he’d latched onto so heavily as a kid.
‘No, it wasn’t,’ she said easily, oblivious to the censure in his tone. ‘I noticed it in the cottage too, when we were out of the sunlight. It’s a really striking shade of blue. And that dark rim around the iris.’ She gave a huge yawn. ‘So you’re not related, then?’
‘Of course not. Zane’s Mexican-American,’ he said, desperation making sweat slick his brow. He stabbed the button to turn up the air conditioner, but the cooling air only made the sweat clammy.
‘Surely Zane has some anglo blood, with blue eyes. It’s a recessive gene, isn’t it?’
‘What?’ he snapped, unable to hide the hint of panic.
‘It’s a recessive gene—it means either he has to have a parent with blue eyes or a—’
‘Why are you so interested in Zane?’ he cut in, trying to shut her up.
‘I’m not interested in Zane,’ she said carefully. ‘I already passed the drool test, remember?’ He could tell she was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t make his insides settle. All
he could feel was the pain in his chest, from the guilt and regret and shame that had haunted his childhood, and nearly destroyed the friendship that he had relied on his whole adult life. ‘Good, then let’s stop talking about this.’ But to his horror, his voice came out on a croak.
‘What’s the matter?’ Tess asked, the drowsiness gone from her voice. ‘Why are you upset?’
‘Nothing’s the matter.’ Or it wouldn’t be once she dropped this. He kept his gaze fixed on the road.
‘Stop the car, Nate.’
‘What? Why?’ His gaze darted to her waistline. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine. Just stop the car. There’s a layby up ahead.’ She pointed to the shoulder on the other side of the road that jutted out over the ocean.
